Mendelssohn
ELIJAH
Saturday
28th March 2009
at 7.30pm
St Barnabas Church
Calton Avenue
Dulwich Village
London SE21 7DG
Felix Mendelssohn
ELIJAH
Mendelssohn bicentenary performance
–˜
Dulwich Choral Society
&
Dulwich Festival Orchestra
Leader: Rita Manning
Vir Singh-Mitter Treble
Georgia Ginsberg Soprano
Anne-Marie Gibbons Mezzo-soprano
Peter Davoren Tenor
Rodney Clarke Bass-Baritone
Conductor – Aidan Oliver
There will be an interval of 20 minutes
between Part I and Part II.
Please ensure your MOBILE PHONE is switched off during the performance.
Thank you.
Copyright of the Royal Academy of Music
Felix Mendelssohn
Miniature portrait, probably painted in Germany, 19th Century.
Royal Academy of Music, London:
Foyle Menuhin Archive
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
Mendelssohn’s family was both wealthy and profoundly cultured. His musical talents
were recognised before he was seven and no expense was spared in finding him the best
teachers and exposing him to the most stimulating musical activities.
In 1820, he joined the choir of the Berlin Singakademie which specialised in the
performance of music by Bach and his contemporaries. He celebrated his twelfth
birthday in 1821 by writing an opera and directing the best professional musicians in
Berlin in a performance of it. This seems prodigiously young today but we should recall
that a twelve-year old would have started progressing towards an adult career – Nelson
first went to sea at twelve, Beethoven started working in a professional orchestra at
twelve, and in 1823 the first students to be admitted to London’s Royal Academy of
Music were all aged twelve.
Mendelssohn’s grandmother commissioned a (handwritten, of course) copy of Bach’s St
Matthew Passion as a present for his fourteenth birthday and five years later he directed
its first public performance since Bach’s death in 1750. He went to the first performance
of Weber’s ground-breaking opera der Freischütz in 1821 and by the summer of 1824
he was trying out the style of Beethoven and Weber in his composition exercises. He
heard, and probably met, Chopin in Berlin in 1828 and wrote the first of his Lieder ohne
Worte in the same year. He enjoyed and actively promoted the music of other
composers while throughout his life he worked to assimilate interesting and effective
techniques.
His mother was in charge of his up-bringing and she insisted that he receive the general
education ‘so often lacking in musicians’. By the time he visited London for the first
time in 1829 he was an accomplished watercolourist, an enthusiastic and fluent linguist
and had completed a course of study at Berlin University. Not only was his music well
received by the public but he was a well-informed, witty and entertaining companion.
Mendelssohn wrote three oratorios. Die erste Walpurgisnacht, first performed in 1833,
used an early romantic “gothick” style to evoke pagan rituals; he had met and made
friends with Berlioz in Rome in 1830. He started work on St Paul in 1834 exploring the
Lutheran devotional music which meant so much to him. Elijah, which he started
planning immediately after the first performance of St Paul in 1836, was always
intended as a more dramatic work, perhaps in the mould of Handel’s oratorios. The
work soon stalled because Schubring, the Lutheran pastor and man of letters who was
preparing the text, felt that the subject should be treated in a contemplative way whereas
Mendelssohn wanted drama in the words, the action, the characterisation and the music.
He was prompted to return to Elijah by a commission from the Birmingham Festival for
a work to be performed in the Summer of 1846.
Elijah was conceived as a continuous work rather than as a series of set piece arias and
choruses. He wrote the soprano part with Jenny Lind’s voice in mind – he said in a
letter “[her] upper F sharp possessed an irresistible charm” and it features at the
beginning of Hear ye Israel. However, Lind was unwilling to make her English debut in
an oratorio rather than an opera and the part was taken by Caradori-Allen. She found it
uncomfortably high and asked for amendments to suit her voice – a not uncommon
practice in opera. Mendelssohn was not prepared to lose the underlying key structure of
the whole work with the result that the soprano part in the first performance was the
only disappointment in a magnificent success. He also used distinctive themes to
represent characters and ideas – perhaps the most recognisable is the angular motif that
depicts the curse of drought lying on the land. Both of these techniques became
cornerstones of the revolutionary operas written by Mendelssohn’s slightly younger
contemporary, Wagner, after 1848.
There is drama in the action: the followers of Baal plead for miraculous fire to come
and burn the sacrifice while the faithful Jews respond with awe to the eventual miracle;
the wicked queen stirs up the people against Elijah – Mendelssohn teased Madame
Sainton-Dolby the contralto soloist in the first performance “…it will suit you very
well, for it is a true woman’s part – half an angel and half a devil.” There is
psychological drama too; Elijah, so strong in public, is revealed torn by private doubts
and needing to be reassured by God and comforted by angels.
The work was conceived for large forces. There were four hundred performers,
including double wind and brass, on stage for the first performance. The writing for
wind is reminiscent of Berlioz; Mendelssohn had played the harp part (on the piano) in
a performance of Symphonie Fantastique in Leipzig in February 1843.
DR FRANCES PALMER
Curator, Royal Academy of Music
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ELIJAH
Introduction – As God the Lord of Israel liveth
Overture
1.
Chorus. Help, Lord!
2.
Ensemble and chorus. Lord, bow thine ear to our prayer!
3.
Recitative. Ye people, rend your hearts!
4.
Aria. If with all your hearts
5.
Chorus. Yet doth the Lord see it not
6.
Recitative. Elijah, get thee hence
7.
Chorus. For He shall give His angels
7a.
Recitative. Now Cherith’s brook
8.
Recitative, aria, duet. What have I to do with thee?
9.
Chorus. Blessed are the men who fear Him
10.
Recitative with chorus. As God the Lord of Sabaoth liveth
11.
Chorus. Baal, we cry to thee!
12.
Recitative with chorus. Call him louder! For he is a god
13.
Recitative with chorus. Call him louder! He heareth not
14.
Aria. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel
15.
Chorus. Cast thy burden upon the Lord
16.
Recitative and chorus. O Thou who makest thine angels spirits
17.
Aria. Is not His word like a fire?
18.
Aria. Woe unto them who forsake Him!
19.
Recitative with chorus. O man of God, help thy people!
20.
Chorus. Thanks be to God!
Interval
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
Aria. Hear ye, Israel!
Chorus. Be not afraid, saith God the Lord
Recitative. The Lord hath exalted thee
Chorus. Woe to him!
Recitative. Man of God
Aria. It is enough!
Recitative. See, now he sleepeth
Chorus. Lift thine eyes
Chorus. He, watching over Israel
Recitative. Arise, Elijah
Aria. O rest in the Lord
Chorus. He that shall endure to the end
Recitative. Night falleth round me
Chorus. Behold, God the Lord passed by!
Recitative and chorus. Holy, holy holy
Chorus and recitative. Go, return upon thy way!
Arioso. For the mountains shall depart
Chorus. Then did Elijah
Aria. Then shall the righteous shine forth
Quartet. O come, every one that thirsteth
Chorus. And then shall your light break forth
ELIJAH
PART I
Introduction
Elijah: As God the Lord of Israel liveth, before whom I stand:
There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
Overture
1. Chorus: Help, Lord! Wilt Thou quite destroy us?
The harvest now is over, the summer days are gone, and yet no power cometh to help us!
Will then the Lord be no more God in Zion?
The deep affords no water, and the rivers are exhausted!
The suckling’s tongue now cleaveth for thirst to his mouth;
The infant children ask for bread, and there is no one breaketh it to feed them.
2. Duet with Chorus: Lord, bow Thine ear to our prayer.
Zion spreadeth her hands for aid, and there is neither help nor comfort.
3. Obadiah: Ye people, rend your hearts and not your garments for your transgressions;
even as Elijah hath sealed the heavens through the word of God.
I therefore say to ye, forsake your idols, return to God;
For He is slow to anger, and merciful, and kind, and gracious, and repenteth Him of the
evil.
4. Obadiah: “If with all your hearts ye truly seek Me, ye shall ever surely find Me.”
Thus saith our God.
Oh! that I knew where I might find Him, that I might even come before His presence!
5. Chorus: Yet doth the Lord see it not; He mocketh at us; His curse hath fallen down upon us;
His wrath will pursue us till He destroy us.
For He, the Lord our God, He is a jealous God, and He visiteth all the fathers’ sins
on the children to the third and the fourth generation of them that hate Him.
His mercies on thousands fall, on all them that love him and keep his commandments.
6. An Angel: Elijah! Get thee hence, Elijah! Depart and turn thee eastward:
Thither hide thee by Cherith’s brook. There shalt thou drink its waters;
And the Lord thy God hath commanded the ravens to feed thee there:
So do according unto His word.
7. Chorus. For He shall give His angels charge over thee:
That they shall protect thee in all the ways thou goest;
That their hands shall uphold and guide thee, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7A. Recitative – Angel. Now Cherith’s brook is dried up, Elijah;
Arise and depart, and get thee to Zarepath;
Thither abide; For the Lord hath commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee;
And the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail,
Until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
8. Recitative, duet.
Widow: What have I to do with thee, O man of God? Art thou come to me, to call my sin unto
remembrance? To slay my son art thou come hither?
Help me, man of God, my son is sick! And his sickness is so sore that there is no
breath left in him! I go mourning all the day long, I lie down and weep at night!
See mine affliction! Be thou the orphan’s helper!
Help my son! There is no breath left in him!
Elijah: Give me thy son.
Turn unto her, O Lord, my God!
Oh turn in mercy, in mercy help this widow’s son!
For thou art gracious and full of compassion, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
Lord, my God, let the spirit of this child return, that he again may live!
Widow: Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? There is no breath in him.
Elijah: Lord, my God, let the spirit of this child return, that he again may live!
Widow: Shall the dead arise and praise thee?
Elijah: Lord, my God, O let the spirit of this child return, that he again may live!
Widow: The Lord hath heard thy prayer; The soul of my son reviveth!
Elijah: Now behold, thy son liveth!
Widow: Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that His word in thy mouth is the
truth. What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?
Elijah: Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, love him with all thine heart...
Duet: With all my soul and with all my might. O, blessed are they who fear Him!
9. Chorus: Blessed are the men who fear Him, they ever walk in the ways of peace.
Through darkness riseth light, light to the upright. He is gracious, compassionate;
He is righteous.
10. Elijah: As God the Lord of Sabaoth liveth, before whom I stand; three years this day fulfilled,
I will shew myself unto Ahab; and the Lord will then send rain again upon the earth.
Ahab: Art thou Elijah? Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
Chorus: Thou art Elijah, he that troubleth Israel!
Elijah: I never troubled Israel’s peace: it is thou, Ahab, and all thy father’s house.
Ye have forsaken God’s commands; and thou hast follow’d Baalim!
Now send, and gather to me the whole of Israel unto Mount Carmel;
There summon the prophets of Baal, and also the prophets of the groves
Who are feasted at Jezebel’s table. Then, then we shall see whose God is the Lord.
Chorus: And then we shall see whose God is the Lord.
Elijah: Rise then, ye priests of Baal; select and slay a bullock, and put no fire under it;
Uplift your voices and call the god ye worship; and I then will call on the Lord Jehovah:
And the God who by fire shall answer, let him be God.
Chorus: Yea, and the God who by fire shall answer, let him be God.
Elijah: Call first upon your god, your numbers are many. I, even I only, remain one prophet of the
Lord. Invoke your forest gods and mountain deities.
11. Chorus: Baal, we cry to thee; hear and answer us! Heed the sacrifice we offer!
Hear us, Baal! Hear, mighty god! Baal, oh answer us! Baal, let thy flames fall and extirpate
the foe!
12. Elijah: Call him louder, for he is a god! He talketh, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey;
or, peradventure, he sleepeth: so awaken him! Call him louder, call him louder!
Chorus: Hear our cry, o Baal, now arise! Wherefore slumber?
13. Elijah: Call him louder! He heareth not. With knives and lancets cut yourselves after your
manner. Leap upon the altar ye have made, call him and prophesy!
Not a voice will answer you: none will listen, none heed you.
Chorus: Baal! Baal! Hear and answer, Baal! Mark how the scorner derideth us!
Elijah: Draw near, all ye people, come to me!
14. Elijah: Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel; this day let it be known that Thou art God,
And I am Thy servant! Lord God of Abraham!
Oh shew to all this people that I have done these things according to Thy word!
Oh hear me, Lord, and answer me! And shew this people that Thou art Lord God.
And let their hearts again be turned!
15. Chorus: Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.
He never will suffer the righteous to fall; He is at thy right hand.
Thy mercy, Lord, is great, and far above the heavens.
Let none be made ashamed, that wait upon Thee!
16. Elijah: O Thou, who makest thine angels spirits;
Thou, whose ministers are flaming fires: let them now descend!
Chorus: The fire descends from heaven! The flames consume his offering!
Before Him upon your faces fall!
The Lord is God! O Israel hear! Our God is one Lord,
And we will have no other gods before the Lord.
Elijah: Take all the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape you.
Bring them down to Kishon’s brook, and there let them be slain.
Chorus: Take all the prophets of Baal and let not one of them escape us: bring all and slay them!
17. Elijah: Is not His word like a fire? And like a hammer that breaketh the rock into pieces?
For God is angry with the wicked every day;
And if the wicked turn not, the Lord will whet His sword;
And He hath bent His bow, and made it ready.
18. Aria (Alto). Woe, woe unto them who forsake Him! destruction shall fall upon them:
for they have transgressed against Him.
Though they are by Him redeemed, yet they have spoken falsely against Him.
19. Obadiah: O man of God, help thy people! Among the idols of the Gentiles,
Are there any that can command the rain, or cause the heavens to give their showers?
The Lord our God alone can do these things.
19. Elijah: O Lord, Thou hast overthrown Thine enemies and destroyed them.
Look down on us from heaven, O Lord; regard the distress of Thy people.
Open the heavens and send us relief! Help, help Thy servant now, O God!
Chorus: Open the heavens and send us relief: Help, help Thy servant now, O God!
Elijah: Go up now, child, and look toward the sea. Hath my prayer been heard by the Lord?
Youth: There is nothing. The heavens are as brass, they are as brass above me.
Elijah: When the heavens are closed up, because they have sinned against Thee:
Yet if they pray and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin when Thou dost afflict
them: then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin. Help, send Thy servant help, O God!
Chorus: Then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin. Help, send Thy servant help, O God!
Elijah: Go up again, and still look toward the sea.
Youth: There is nothing. The earth is as iron under me.
Elijah: Hearest thou no sound of rain? Seest thou nothing arise from the deep?
Youth: No; there is nothing.
Elijah: Have respect to the prayer of Thy servant, O Lord, my God!
Unto Thee will I cry, Lord, my rock, be not silent to me! And Thy great mercies remember,
Lord!
Youth: Behold, a little cloud ariseth now from the waters: it is like a man’s hand!
The heavens are black with cloud and with wind: The storm rusheth louder and louder!
Chorus: Thanks be to God for all His mercies!
Elijah: Thanks be to God! For He is gracious; and His mercy endureth for evermore!
20. Chorus: Thanks be to God! He laveth the thirsty land.
The waters gather, they rush along! They are lifting their voices!
The stormy billows are high, their fury is mighty. But the Lord is above them and
Almighty.
INTERVAL
PART II
21. Soprano: Hear ye, Israel! Hear what the Lord speaketh: “Oh, had’st thou heeded my
commandments!”
Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One to him oppressed by
tyrants, thus saith the Lord: “I am He that comforteth; Be not afraid, for I am thy God!
I will strengthen thee! Say, who art thou, that thou art afraid of a man that shall die;
And forgettest the Lord thy Maker, who hath stretched forth the heavens,
And laid the earth’s foundations? Say, who art thou?”
22. Chorus: Be not afraid, saith God the Lord. Be not afraid, thy help is near!
God, the Lord, thy God, saith unto thee: “Be not afraid!”
Though thousands languish and fall beside thee, and tens of thousands around thee perish,
Yet still it shall not come nigh thee.
23. Elijah: The Lord hath exalted thee from among the people: and o’er His people Israel hath
made thee king.
But thou, Ahab, hast done evil to provoke Him to anger above all that were before thee:
as if it had been a light thing for thee to walk in the sins of Jeroboam.
Thou hast made a grove and an altar to Baal, and served him and worshipped him.
Thou hast killed the righteous, and also taken possession.
And the Lord shall smite all Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water;
and He shall give Israel up, and thou shalt know He is the Lord.
The Queen (Jezebel): Hast thou not heard he hath prophesied against all Israel?
Chorus - The People: He also closed the heavens!
The Queen (Jezebel): And called down a famine upon the land. So go ye forth and seize Elijah, for he
is worthy to die; slaughter him! Do unto him as he hath done!
24. Chorus - The People: Woe to him, he shall perish; he closed the heavens! And why hath he spoken
in the Name of the Lord? Let the guilty prophet perish! He hath spoken falsely against our
land and us, as we have heard with our ears. So go ye forth; seize on him! He shall die!
25. Obadiah: Man of God, now let my words be precious in thy sight!
Thus saith Jezebel: “Elijah is worthy to die.” So the mighty gather against thee,
And they have prepared a net for thy steps; that they may seize thee, that they may slay
thee. Arise then, and hasten for thy life! to the wilderness journey!
The Lord thy God doth go with thee: He will not fail thee. He will not forsake thee.
Now begone, and bless me also!
Elijah: Though stricken, they have not grieved.
Tarry here my servant: the Lord be with thee. I journey hence to the wilderness.
26. Elijah: It is enough! O Lord, now take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers!
I desire to live no longer; now let me die, for my days are but vanity!
I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts,
For the children of Israel have broken Thy covenant, and thrown down Thine altars,
And slain all Thy prophets, slain them with the sword.
I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts,
And I, even I, only am left: and they seek my life to take it away! It is enough!
It is enough. O Lord, now take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers!
Now let me die, Lord, take away my life!
27. Tenor: See, now he sleepeth beneath a juniper tree in the wilderness!
And there the angels of the Lord encamp round about all them that fear Him.
28. Angels: Lift thine eyes, O lift thine eyes to the mountains, whence cometh help.
Thy helpcometh from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He hath said, thy foot shall not be moved. Thy Keeper will never slumber.
29. Chorus: He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps.
Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish, He will quicken thee.
30. An Angel: Arise, Elijah, for thou hast a long journey before thee.
Forty days and forty nights shalt thou go; to Horeb, the mount of God.
Elijah: O Lord, I have laboured in vain; yea, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain!
O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down; that the mountains
would flow down at thy presence, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, through
the wonders of thy works!
O Lord, why hast Thou made them to err from thy ways, and hardened their hearts that
they do not fear thee? O that I now might die!
31. Aria: O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him; and he shall give thee they heart’s desires.
Commit thy way unto him, and trust in him, and fret not thyself because of evildoers.
32. Chorus: He that shall endure to the end, shall be saved.
33. Elijah: Night falleth round me, O Lord! Be Thou not far from me!
Hide not Thy face, O Lord, from me; My soul is thirsting for Thee, as a thirsty land.
Angel: Arise, now! Get thee without! Stand on the mount before the Lord:
For there His glory will appear, and shine on thee!
Thy face must be veiled, for He draweth near.
34. Chorus: Behold, God the Lord passed by!
And a mighty wind rent the mountains around, Brake in pieces the rocks, brake them
before the Lord; ut yet the Lord was not in the tempest.
And the sea was upheaved, and the earth was shaken; but yet the Lord was not in the
earthquake.
And after the earthquake there came a fire; but yet the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire there came a still small voice; and in that still voice onward came the
Lord.
35. Recitative: Above him stood the Seraphim, and one called to another:
Angels: Holy, holy, holy is God the Lord – the Lord Sabaoth! Now his glory hath filled all the earth.
36. Chorus: Go, return upon thy way! For the Lord yet hath left Him seven thousand in Israel,
knees which have not bowed to Baal. Go, return upon thy way! Thus the Lord
commandeth.
Elijah: I go on my way in the strength of the Lord, For Thou art my Lord; and I will suffer for Thy
sake. My heart is therefore glad, my glory rejoiceth; and my flesh shall also rest in hope.
37. Elijah: For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed;
But Thy kindness shall not depart from me; neither shall the covenant of Thy peace be
removed.
38. Chorus: Then did Elijah the prophet break forth like a fire; his words appeared like burning
torches. Mighty kings by him were overthrown. He stood on the mount of Sinai and heard
the judgements of the future, and in Horeb its vengeance. And when the Lord would take
him away to heaven, lo! There came a fiery chariot with fiery horses, and he went by a
whirlwind to heaven.
39. Tenor: Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in their heavenly Father’s realm.
Joy on their head shall be for everlasting, and all sorrow and mourning shall flee away
forever.
40. Quartet: O come every one that thirsteth, O come to the waters: O come unto him. O hear, and
your souls shall live for ever!
41. Chorus: And then, then shall your light break forth as the light of morning breaketh,
And your health shall speedily spring forth then;
And the glory of the Lord ever shall reward you.
Lord, our Creator, how excellent Thy Name is in all the nations!
Thou fillest heaven with Thy glory. Amen.
THE END
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VIR SINGH-MITTER
Treble
Vir Sing-Mitter attends Westminster Under School where he is a member of the Senior
Choir, which this year reached the Finals of the BBC Choir of the Year Competition.
He is also Deputy Head Chorister at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey where
he was awarded the Cooper Prize for his singing.
Vir has performed at a number of venues around London including the Barbican,
Lambeth Palace and the Speaker’s Private Apartments.
GEORGIA GINSBERG
Soprano
After reading Japanese and History of Art at Cambridge, Georgia went on to Trinity
College of Music, where, a Gold Medal finalist, she won the Comley and Neumann
prizes. She then trained with Julie Kennard and Jonathan Papp at the Royal Academy
of Music and attended the ‘Solti Accademia di bel canto’ in Italy, studying with Dame
Kiri te Kanawa, with whom she continues to work.
As a soloist, Georgia has performed in the Southbank Messiaen and Nono Festivals, at
venues such as Kensington Palace and Handel House, and has recorded David
Gaukroger’s Romany Wood with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Oratorios include
Handel Messiah, Mozart Coronation Mass, Bach St Matthew Passion, Christmas
Oratorio, Britten War Requiem, Orff Carmina Burana and Poulenc Gloria.
Operatic roles have included Governess The Turn of the Screw, Despina Cosí fan tutte,
Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Josephine HMS Pinafore, Phyllis Iolanthe, Cleopatra
Giulio Cesare, Proserpina L’Orféo and Frasquita Carmen.
ANNE MARIE GIBBONS
Mezzo Soprano
Anne Marie Gibbons studied at the Dublin Institute of Technology, and Royal Northern
College of Music before joining the Young Singer’s Programme at English National
Opera where appearances include Dorabella Cosí fan tutte, Anna The Trojans at
Carthage, Ascanius The Trojans, Ino Semele, Sister Mathilde The Dialogue of the
Carmelites, Pitti-Sing The Mikado, Flora La Traviata, Bacchis La Belle Hélène, Nero
Agrippina, Kasturbai Satyagraha and Annio La Clemenza di Tito. Elsewhere
performances include the title roles in Ariodante and La Cenerentola for Opera Theatre
Company, Ireland, Siegrune & Gutrune Der Ring des Nibelungen in Limerick and
Birmingham, Pippo The Thieving Magpie for Opera North, Peter Eötvös’ As I Crossed
the Bridge of Dreams for Almeida Opera, Anna Maria Stuarda for Chelsea Opera
Group, Second Lady The Magic Flute for Welsh National Opera, Flora La Traviata for
Longborough Festival Opera and Rosmira Partenope for Les Azuriales Festival, France.
Plans include the title roles in both Ariodante & Teseo for English Touring Opera.
PETER DAVOREN
Tenor
Peter is currently a post-graduate student at the Royal Academy of Music, studying
under Neil Mackie and Mary Hill. His operatic roles include Don Basilio The Marriage
of Figaro, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Don Jose Carmen and Filipeto Das Vier
Grobiane. Peter has sung many solo roles in oratorios such as Handel Messiah, Bach St
John Passion, Mendelssohn Elijah and many more. He is due to perform the role of
Evangelist in the St John Passion at the Spitalfields Festival and is also representing the
United Kingdom at the Kyoto International Music Student Festival in Japan this
summer.
RODNEY CLARKE
Bass-baritone
Rodney Clarke studied singing with Professor Mark Wildman at the Royal Academy of
Music where he was awarded the Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award 2001 and was
generously supported by the Sir Peter Moores Foundation.
He has performed with many companies including The Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera,
Birmingham Opera Company, Opéra National de Lyon, Le Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris
and The Norwegian Opera. Roles in performance include Count Almaviva Le Nozze di
Figaro, Papageno Die Zauberflöte and the title role of Don Giovanni. He was
Ferryman Curlew River and Junius The Rape of Lucretia, Jake Porgy and Bess and
Thoas Iphigénie en Tauride.
He has created a number of roles from the compositions of Errolyn Wallen, Jonathan
Dove and Glenn Erik Haugland. He has participated in television projects for the BBC
and appeared as the Second Priest in Kenneth Branagh's film version of The Magic
Flute. He has performed at St John's, Smith Square, the Royal Festival Hall, the Purcell
Room, the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall, highlights including Haydn's Creation
under Sir David Willcocks, Bernstein's Mass with the LSO under Marin Alsop and the
title role in Porgy and Bess with the Orchestra and Chorus of Accademia di Santa
Cecilia, Rome under Wayne Marshall.
Rodney is currently understudying the role of Aeneas for the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden’s production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and will feature in the BBC’s
documentary of The Birth of British Music - Handel and Purcell series.
He returns to Dulwich Village where he was educated at Dulwich College (OA) 19891996.
AIDAN OLIVER
Conductor
Aidan Oliver is one of the most sought-after choral directors in the UK. As
well as Musical Director of Dulwich Choral Society, he is the Director of
Music at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, and the founding chorus
master of Philharmonia Voices, a professional chorus which collaborates
regularly with the Philharmonia Orchestra. His freelance engagements have
included work with the BBC Singers, Philharmonia Chorus, BBC Symphony
Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, Bach Choir and the Chorus of English National Opera. Since
its founding in 2004, Philharmonia Voices has received consistently outstanding reviews in the
national press for its performances, including most recently Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Vaughan
Williams’ Pilgrim’s Progress and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex. A Sunday Times review of the latter
performance described Philharmonia Voices as “spectacularly good.”
Aidan is also heavily involved in the field of opera as a conductor and répétiteur, working regularly
on the music staff of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, as well as assisting the late Richard
Hickox on several acclaimed opera recordings for Chandos. Since 2004 he has been Associate
Conductor at the St Endellion Festival in Cornwall.
Aidan began his musical career as a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, later studying at Eton
College and at King's College Cambridge as a Choral Scholar. Having graduated from Cambridge
with a double first in Classics, he went on to study musicology at Harvard University and at King's
College London; he also trained as a répétiteur at the National Opera Studio. He lives in East
Dulwich with his wife and two children.
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KINDRED’S MAYFAIR BAKERY ARE
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is targeted at a variety of markets: wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free; and some, like our
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Live musical performances are similar to real bread: there is no real
substitute for having your senses stimulated by going to a concert or
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Dulwich Choral Society
President: Dame Emma Kirkby
Vice Presidents: Mr Roger Page, Mr James Cleall-Harding
Musical Director: Aidan Oliver
Accompanist: David Elwin
Orchestra Fixer: Jill Harris
The following members are singing in tonight’s concert
Sopranos
Ede Fehrenbach
Alice Griffin
Alex Craker
Marie-Pierre Denaro
Heidi Lempp
Sylvia Francis-Mullins
Emily Lodge
Vivienne Sayer
Juliet King-Smith
Rosie Lodge
Liz Loughran
Denise Lawson
Julia Layton
Fenella Maitland-Smith
Diana May
Morven Main
Harriet Pearce Willis
Vicky Simon
Teresa Marshall
Frances Palmer
Clare Wilkinson
Jenny Thomas
Melrose Thomas
Charlotte Townsend
Winifred Whiteley
Honor Gay
Ann Cowan
Julie Jones
Jenny Kay
Kathryn Livingston
Fiona McKnight
Jo Merry
Karen Mills
Sue Newell
Erika Grobler
Caroline Gladstone
Sarah Hughes
Frances Steele
Sue Stratton
Lorna Sweetman
Jessica Wattles
Karen Jensen-Jones
Chrissi Pallidis
Katherine Robinson
Derek Morling
Jonathan Palmer
John Quigley
Michael Palmer
Chris Papavassiliou
Peter Swift
Iain Saville
Nick Vaisey
Andrew Lang
James Thorpe
Michael Kenny
Mike Lock
Peter Main
Aziz Panni
Matthew Strasser-Williams
Richard Davies
Mike Shepherd
Richard Harding
Altos
Karen Maxwell
Sonia Butler
Julia Field
Jane Fletcher
Hilary Friend
Jill Harris
Barbara Hillier
Susanne Sivagnanam
Rebecca Bahar
Charlotte Hutchinson
Tenors
Forbes Bailey
Merlin Harrison
Steve Harrison
Jon Layton
Nikita Leigh
Basses
Christopher Braun
Malcolm Field
Michael Goodman
Alan Grant
Alex Hamilton
Dulwich Choral Society
T
HE DULWICH CHORAL SOCIETY was founded in 1944. Today it is a thriving,
friendly choir which performs at least three concerts a year, including two with
professional orchestras and top-class soloists. Since 2006 the choir has been directed by
Aidan Oliver, one of the UK’s leading choral conductors.
As well as giving concerts in the Dulwich area, the choir has performed more
widely both in central London and abroad. Since our first overseas concert tour in 1998,
we have visited Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Germany and Estonia,
performing in a number of prestigious venues. A tour to Bosnia–Herzegovina in 2004
included concerts in Sarajevo and Mostar. Closer to home the choir performs in several
of the beautiful churches in and around Dulwich, and enjoys a strong local following.
If you would like to support the choir, you can find details of our Friends and
Patrons scheme towards the end of this programme.
Would you like to join us?
New choir members are always welcome. If you are interested in joining
the choir, please contact Jo Merry, our Membership Secretary, on
020 7737 3169 or email [email protected] for
more details.
Entry is subject to an informal audition by the Musical Director who,
besides a good singing voice, will be looking for some sight-reading
ability and general musicality. Membership costs £144 a year.
Rehearsals take place on Monday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30pm, at the
Herne Hill Baptist Church, on the corner of Half Moon Lane and
Winterbrook Road, London SE24 9HU. The church is about five minutes’
walk from either Herne Hill or North Dulwich station and is served by a
number of bus routes including the 3, 37 and 68.
w w w .d u lw ic h c h o r a ls o c ie t y .o r g .u k
At Olley’s, we are conscientious and have a desire to achieve excellence.
Even a humble dish of Fish & Chips calls for the finest ingredients,
fried together at the right temperature and always served with a smile.
Remind yourself what award-winning Fish & Chips really taste like.
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Takeaw ay, restaurant and bar
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London SE24 9AA
020 8671 8259
www.olleys.info
“As reverent a temple to the national dish of old as you’ll find in the
capital” Time Out 2008
Friends and Patrons
The Dulwich Choral Society gratefully acknowledges the financial
support it receives from its Friends and Patrons.
Giles and Hilary Brindley
Jane Burlinson
John and Judy Clark
Elizabeth Clarke
Jimmie and June Cleall-Harding
Margaret Doubleday
Michael Goodman
Mrs E F Gray
Julie John and David Riches
Juliet King-Smith
Lawson, Martin & Partners
Nick and Kara Lawson
Frederick and Catherine Leese
Mike and Jo Lock
Roger May
Karen Macauslan
Roger and Scilla Page
John Rice
Mrs G R F Stewart
Peter Thomas
Isaac & Shula Marks
The Friends and Patrons are a group of people who enjoy coming to our concerts and
social events whenever possible and are interested in ensuring the future stability of the
choir by making annual contributions towards concert expenses.
You are invited to join the scheme, which will entitle you to:
• Advance booking for concerts at reduced ticket price
• Invitations to social events and free interval drinks (at certain concert venues)
• Regular mailings of news and details of future programmes
Dulwich Choral Society is registered charity no. 264764.
Donations given to the Society under GIFT AID will enable the income tax to be
recovered as an additional benefit to the Society.
For more information please write to:
Michael Goodman
Parkside
Dulwich Common
London SE21 7EV
or phone: 020 8693 3564
or email: [email protected]
Dulwich Choral Society
Forthcoming concerts
Saturday 4th July 2009 at 7.30 pm
St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood
A Shakespeare Celebration
An ingenious and exuberant programme brings together settings of the Bard
from across the continents and across the ages - from madrigals to opera to
jazz...
Programme includes:
Berlioz – La mort d’Ophélie
Mendelssohn – Overture from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Verdi – Chorus of the Scottish Refugees from Macbeth
Bernstein – Music from West Side Story
George Shearing – Songs and Sonnets
P.D.Q. Bach – ‘Twas a lover and his lass...
Saturday 21 November, 2009
All Saints Church, Rosendale Road
Britten – St Nicholas
STOP PRESS – Advance date for your diaries
Saturday 20th March, 2010
J.S.Bach – St John Passion
featuring
Dame Emma Kirkby as soprano soloist
Performed with period instruments